Alexandee adbien despeeaux



A. A. DESPREAUX. PRINTING AND ORNAMENTING TEXTILE FABRICS.

Patented May 10, 1864.

77m wam UNITED STATES ATENT rinse.

PRINTING AND ORNAMENTING TEXTILE FABRICS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 12,? H 3, dated May 10,1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDRE ADRIEN DESPREAUX, of Paris, in' the Empireof France, have invented certain new and useful improvements in printingand ornamenting textile fabrics, paper-hangings, and other ma terials,and in surfaces-and apparatus for such purposes; and I hereby declarethat the following is a full, clear, and exact descrip tion of the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, to be hereinafterreferred to.-

My invention relates to the production of figures, devices, or designsupon textile fabrics having metallic threads interwoven, by printing orapplying pressure-that is to say, by the use of printing, figuring, orpattern surfaces bearing the required device or design, which theytransmit to the fabric or material to be printed or ornamented by meansof pressureimitating the'embossed or raised effects obtained by Jacquardmachinery,

and by tapestry or needle-work.

The printing, figuring, orn amenting, or pattern surfaces USl d in myinvention are thus'produced: The intended design or device is firsttraced on a plate or slab, and is then cut out therein-that is to say,parts are cut away from the plate or slab, the cutting following thelines of the tracing, and thus pro ducing the device or design as a sortof openwork, but portions of the plate or slab must be left whererequired to serve as connections for keeping the parts of the devicetogether. The edges of the lines of the device or work thus cut out aresharp, instead of having scams or inequalities, as incast patterns. Thedevice, out out as described, is then riveted or fastened down to aplate, which serves as a back or mount, and the connecting-strips whichhad been left between the device lines, butwhich are no longerrequired,'can now be removed. To save time the plate from which thedevice is to be cut may be divided into portions, on which differentworkmen can work at the same time, so as to produce different parts orrepetitions of the device simultaneously, the portions being afterwardduly put together on the/back or mount, to which they are fastened. Theback or mount plate, with the device thereon, is fastened down to ablock, slab, or foundation of marble or other like-hard material. Adevice may be produeed in like manner on cylinders or rollers bydividing a cylinder into sections, on which the device is traced and cutout, as described,

metal, indurated wood, and caoutchouc and other substances, according tothe fabric to be printed or ornamented; but when carrying out the modefirst hereinbefore described thin copper plates with hammer-hardened andsmooth surfaces are in most cases recommended as a fit material on whichto trace the device, and in which to cut it out, as before described. Bythe means first described printing, figuring, .or pattern blocks,piates, cylinders, or surfaces are obtained in which the device oroutlines are formed with sharp edges and are cut of sufficient depth tobe very durable. The colors are applied by rollers or otherwise upon theraised parts or reliefs of the printing or figuring surfaces, so thatthose parts imprint the colors, while the hollow serve as the blanks orspaces. The quantity and density of the colors should be regulatedaccording to the nature and thickness of the materials. The colorsemployed are prepared without using acid mordants, and they consist ofmetallic oxides, or of lacs crushed or reduced to a fine powder withfatty 0r unctuous oils, or with fatty varnishes, but without a'cidmordants. In the printing machinery employed it is preferred to adopt arrangements in which the printing, figuring, or pattern blocks, plates,or surfaces, instead of being fixtures to the table or frame-work onwhich the prining is performed, are free to travel on and off it, and inwhich arrangements, also, the said blocks or surfaces, after they haveapplied the device on the material to be printed or figured, are broughtback again to start afresh and repeat their work. The best mode of doingthis is by traveling tables, which bring back the block on the samehorizontal plane, or instead of traveling tables inclined surfaces maybe used. In one lifting the lever of the first-named table thearrangement two rails are supported on a framework, at one end of whichis a carriage supporting a table on which are a pair of rails, which,when the table is shifted, accordingly form a continuation of those onthe frame-work. The table is capable gt turning round to the requiredextent preferably on a gudgeon 'workingin a. socket. The carriagetravels along a railway from one end otthe machine frame-work to theother. Three rollers are supported in the frame-work, round the secondand third of which is an endless band of sufficient breadth to extendfrom end to end thereof, and the third and topmost'are also connected bya similar but thinner band, which comes in contactwith the materialwhile thelatter is being printed, and thus affords an elastic pressurethereon. Below the lowest of these three rollers is a. fourth roller ata distance corresponding to the depth of the block. These rollers "canbe adjusted as to their respective distances by screws or other wise.The fourth roller is worked by a crankhandle, or by a crank-shaft andpinion and train of wheels. The blocks may be connected two or moretogether, and are run on'the rails of the framework and passed betweenthe two lowest rollers; and when one block has passed it is detachedfromthe next behind it and moved onto the turn-table on the carriage,which is the unfastened from that end of the frame-workand run round tothe other end, the table being turned sufficiently to bring the frontend of the block forward, ready for being again passed between therollers, between which thesecond one may be passed meanwhile. Thematerial to be printed or figured is delivered from off a beam or rollerand brought under the third roller, where it is printed by the block,and is thence cairied over guide-rollers to a frame, which is so causedto move by cranks and rods worked by the delivery-roller as to cause thematerial to fall in regular folds. Instead of the travcling tablethemachine may be'furnished with an inclined plane or inclined rails,and also with rising, and falling tables, slabs, or frames at each endof tho frame-work, which works thus: Whcn the block has passed betweenthe rollers, and is to be returned to the other end of the machine, itis run onto the table at the farther end' of the machine, which table iskept horizontal by a lever taking-into a catch. A piece of the frameworkat. the other end is next pulledup, and the table at that end isdepressed by raising a lever or otherwise, whereby the rails thereon arebrought into a line with the inclined rails, so that on block will slidedown the inclined rails onto the sccondnamed table, which is thenraised, and the portion of the frame-work is sh nt again so as to form alevel surface, on which the block is again run between the rollers. Acrane maybe also used for returning the blocks. The pattern-surfaces mayreceive their colors,

' metallic threads interwoven.

- to the framework A below the roller].

among other modes, by pressure upon traveling plates or tablesbroughtback after doing their work to commence it afresh. A device may beprinted in different colorsby using printing-surfaces with ditferentcolors, and by having a number of plates or surfaces on which difi'erentcolors are applied, and which are duly arranged or brought into properregister. The device can be printed on the material in various colors.The colors will be fixed onthe material .by drying it by hot air withouteither steaming or washing in a running stream for fixing them.

To carry my invention into effect I use as a material to be printed upona fabric having When printed in the manner herein set forth, the edge ofthe pattern will indentinto the fabric, and the indentations so madewill-be more permanent than if the fabric were composed of vegetable oranimal fibrous substances alone. The effectinttrided-i. e., imitating'the embossed or raised effects obtained by Jacquard machinery and bytapestry or needle work+- will thus be produced. I

The accompanying drawings represent printing or ornamenting apparatusconstructed according to my invention.

Figure l is a sectional elevation of a machine in which each block,after having been used for one impression, is brought back in the samehorizontal plane to the place whence it started, to perform a freshimpression. A

is the general frame-work, on which are secured a pair of rails, b b,extending from one end thereof, and supported on frame-bars c 07. At oneend of the frame-work A is placed a carriage or traveling frame, E, onwhich is mounted a tableor plate, 0, on which are fixed a pair of rails,ff, corresponding in gage and level with the rails b b, so that when thetable is turned around so as to bring the rails f in a'line with therails b the former form a continuation of the latter. The table-top e isfree to turn in its frame, being fixed on a central pivot or socketturning in an annular groove in the center of the carriage E but itisprevented from performing more than a single revolution in eitherdirection at a time by stops or catches. the frame-work A,whenreqnired,by a hook or fastening, which may easily be undone. Thecarriage E is set on wheels f f, which run on curved rails 9, (shown ona smaller scalein the plan,-Fig. 3,) leading from one end of the"machine framework A to theother end thereof. a I: h are a pair ofstandards fixed to the frame-work A near the middle, oneat each side.

In these standards are supported three rollers, i k 1., Round therollers hand I is a blanket or endless woolen band, 122, ofsufiicientbreadth to extend from end to end of each roller, espectively.m is another blanket or endless woolen band,thinner than m,andpassinground the rollers Z and 1". s is afonrth roller secured The spacebetween .the rollers s and lis equal to the depth of the printing-block.The roller The carriage E is held to \7 and guide 2, hereinafterreferred to.

s is driven by a train of wheels, 0 q r, actuated by a handle or by acrank-shaft carrying a fly-wheel. R is the fabric to be printed, whichis delivered continuously off a beam, c, and guided by a guide-piece,a", to the rollers. It passes under the blanket m, which comes incontact with itwhile it is being printed, by which means a suitabledegree of elastic pressure is obtained on the fabric. After the fabricis printed, it passes over aguide-wheel, 3 The four rollers 1', It, I,and s may be brought nearer to or farther from each other as required byscrews, with which their bearings are fitted. Q Q are theprinting-blocks, which are mounted on small wheels or friction-rollers,so that they may run freely on the rails.

The machine is thus used: The carriage E is hooked to the frame-work A,its table 0 be ing turned so as to bring its rails f in a line with therails 12. Two or more blocks, Q Q, are hooked together, one behind theother, by hooks a, Fig. 4, and placed on the rails 1), their printingsurfaces being uppermost. The foremost block, Q, is pushed between therollers l and s, the position of the fabric R which is to be printed byit having been first brought duly under the blanket m. The device isthus impressed on the fabric, and rotary motion is communicated to theroller 8, and the block. is propelled between the rollers, and when ithas cleared them it is unhooked from the block Q next behind it, andbrought on to the table 9 on the carriage E, which is unfastened fromthe framework A and run along the railway g to the other or back end ofthe framework, carryingthe block Q with it, the table 6 being suitablyturned on its axis to bring the proper end of the block fore-. most inthe required position. While this is being done the second block, Q, isbeing pro pelled between the rollers and caused to print the fabric, andby the time it has passed through the rollers the first block is readyfor being started afresh along the rails b, and the second block,Q,isrun on to the rails fon the table 6, which must be run back again to thefront end of the frame-work A in time to re ceive the block, and is thenrolled away with the block Q upon it to the back end of the frame-work,and so on, thus with two blocks any length of material may be printedcontinuously. The fabric, afterbeing printed,

passes over the guide-rollers y z z to a vibrating-frame, which dropsitin regular folds on the ground or into a receiver, the frame receivingagentle motion from bcll-cranks 1, actu ated through rods 2 3 by o herbell-cranks, 4, worked by the .roller v.

Fig. 2 is aview of a modification, in which the printing-blocks, insteadof traveling from end to end of the frame-work on the same level, arereturned down inclined rails. Here the framework A has at one end amovable portion, A, and at the other end a movable portion, A each suchportion A A consisting of a rising and falling oblong fran'ie or table.6 e are inclined rails between the portions A and A 0 is another movablepiece, forming part of the top of the frame work A, to which it ishinged, so as to open and close as required. (1 is a weighted leverattached to the frame A. The frames A A being first in ahorizontalposition, the printingblock is propelled from the end A to and betweenthe rollers, as before, and prints the fabric, and is then run onto theframe A-, which is retained horizontal by a catch, a, into which alever, b, takes. When the block is on A the attendant raises the hingedpiece 0 into the position shown in blue lines, and so leaves room forthe frame A to work,and he raises the lever d, and thereby depressestheframeA, bringing itinto an inclined position, as shown in blue lines, sothat the rails upon it eomeinalinewiththeinclinedrailsce. When this hasbeen done, the workman raises the lever b, and thereby inclines theframe A bringing it into the position shown in blue lines, in whichposition the rails which it earries come in a line with the rails c e,which thus lead direct from the rails on A to those on A, and the blockslides down the rails on A along the rails c c, to the frame A.Immediately on the blocks arriving fairly on that frame the workmandepresses the end of the lever (1, so as again to raise the frame A to ahorizontal position, flush with the main portion of the top of theframe-work A, and shuts down the portion 6, and then pushes the blockagain between the rollers, as before, the frame A being again raisedflush with the rest of the top of the frame-work A to receive the blockwhen propelled thereon. The block thus works continuously. The fabric isdelivered to and from theprinting-rollers in the same manner as shown inFig. l. The table E, Fig. 1, may be propelled by machinery or by hand.The blocks might also be moved from end to end of the framework by hand.

In producing the printing or figuring surfaces by cutting out thedevice, as before described, Imay mention that the device (after beingout) is best attached to the mount by small rivets, the heads of whichare afterward trimmed down, so as not to project above the surface. Byproducing a device in portions, and then fastening the portionstogether, very large artistic subjects may be reproduced.

The surfaces of the blocks of marble to which the design is fastenedshould be made quite smooth or plane.

When the printing or figuring surfaces are produced by electrotyping orby casting, as before referred to, the edges should be made smooth ortrue by alathe or planing-machine before fastening the portions of thedevice onto the mount.

In manufacturing printing or pattern rollers according to the modedescribedthat is to say, in producing patterns, devices, or designsthereon aecording to the cutting-out mode herein described-h ollow ortubular cylinders (preferably of laminated copper) are cut into four orsix (or more or less) parts or sections along lines parallel to theaxis, as shown in Fig. 5, and after the workman has produced the deviceon each such section by cutting away portions so as to form a sort ofopen-work, and proceeding in themnnner before set forth the sections areriveted or otherwise secured on a copper or other roller, forming, as itwere, a cylindrical core surrom'ided by the petterucylinder.

When rollers are used for applying the colors to the printing-surfaces,they may be worked by hand or by machinery.

In carrying into effect the mode of producing the colors beforedescribed, the oxides or lacs should be subieoted to a protractedcrushing to reduce them to the fine powder required.

Havin g now described the nature of my invention and in what manner thesame may be pert'ormed,1 declare that what I- claim as it new article ofmanufacture, is-- Fabrics with metallic threads interwoven therein,printed or ornamented in the manner substantially as hereinbefore setforth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification beforetwo subscrib ing witnesses.

Witnesses: DE SPREAUX.

PmsAR'r, Gno. HEMON.

